Sacred Heart Pioneers football | |||
---|---|---|---|
| |||
First season | 1991 | ||
Head coach | Mark Nofri 10th season, 67–53 (.558) | ||
Stadium | Campus Field (capacity: 3,334) | ||
Location | Fairfield, Connecticut | ||
NCAA division | Division I FCS | ||
Conference | NCAA Division I FCS independent schools | ||
All-time record | 89–124 (.418) | ||
Bowl record | 1–0 (1.000) | ||
Claimed national titles | 1 | ||
Conference titles | 6 | ||
Consensus All-Americans | 3 | ||
Colors | Red and white [1] | ||
Website | sacredheartpioneers.com |
The Sacred Heart Pioneers football program is the intercollegiate American football team for the Sacred Heart University located in Fairfield, Connecticut. The team competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and are one of two NCAA Division I FCS independent schools. The school's first football team was fielded in 1993. [2] The 2001 Sacred Heart Pioneers football team compiled a perfect 11–0 record and won the school's first conference championship.
The team plays its home games at the 3,334 seat Campus Field.
Beginning in 2024, the team will compete as a NCAA Division I FCS Independent school. Their departure from the Northeast Conference will coincide with the move of the Sacred Heart Pioneers athletic program to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, which has not supported football competition since 2007. They will join the Merrimack Warriors football program, also joining the MAAC as a full member, as the only two schools competing in the 2024 NCAA Division I FCS football season independent of conference affiliation.
Year | Coach | Conference | Record |
---|---|---|---|
2001 | Jim Fleming | Northeast Conference | 11–0 |
2013 | Mark Nofri | Northeast Conference | 10–3 † |
2014 | Mark Nofri | Northeast Conference | 9–3 † |
2018 | Mark Nofri | Northeast Conference | 7–4 † |
2020 | Mark Nofri | Northeast Conference | 3–1 |
2021 | Mark Nofri | Northeast Conference | 6–1 |
Conference Championships | 6 | ||
† denotes co-championship
Sacred Heart has made four appearances in the FCS playoffs. Their combined record is 0–4.
Year | Round | Opponent | Result |
---|---|---|---|
2013 | First Round | Fordham | L 27–37 |
2014 | First Round | Fordham | L 22–44 |
2020 | First Round | Delaware | L 10–19 |
2021 | First Round | Holy Cross | L 10–13 |
Future non-conference opponents announced as of January 20, 2023. [4]
2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
---|---|---|
Lafayette | at Lafayette | at Norfolk State |
at Yale | Lafayette | |
at UConn |
The Northeast Conference (NEC) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools are members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Teams in the NEC compete in Division I for all sports; football competes in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Participating schools are located principally in the Northeastern United States, from which the conference derives its name.
NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision independent schools are four-year institutions in the United States whose football programs are not part of a football conference. This means that FCS independents are not required to schedule each other for competition as conference schools do. As of the 2024 season, Merrimack and Sacred Heart will be competing as independents, as their primary conference, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, does not sponsor football after previously being members of the Northeast Conference. Merrimack and Sacred Heart are confirmed to play as FCS independents in 2024.
NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic powers, with large budgets, more elaborate and nicer facilities and a few more athletic scholarships than Divisions II and III as well as many smaller schools committed to the highest level of intercollegiate competition.
NCAA Division I independent schools are four-year institutions that compete in college athletics at the NCAA Division I level, but do not belong to an established athletic conference for a particular sport. These schools may however still compete as members of an athletic conference in other sports. A school may also be fully independent, and not belong to any athletic conference for any sport at all. The reason for independent status varies among institutions, but it is frequently because the school's primary athletic conference does not sponsor a particular sport.
The Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) is a college athletic conference whose member schools compete in men's volleyball. Its member institutions are located in the Northeast United States.
The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the FCS level comprises 128 teams in 14 conferences as of the 2023 season. The FCS designation is only tied to football with the non-football sports programs of each school competing in NCAA Division I.
This article depicts the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Alignment History—specifically, all schools that have competed in the lower tier of NCAA Division I college football since Division I football was split into two subdivisions in 1978. This includes schools competing in:
The Sacred Heart Pioneers are the 32 sports teams representing Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut in intercollegiate athletics. The Pioneers compete in the NCAA Division I and are members of the Northeast Conference, Atlantic Hockey, Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association, and New England Women's Hockey Alliance. SHU will move from the NEC to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) after the 2023–24 school year.
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The Merrimack Warriors are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Merrimack College, located in North Andover, Massachusetts, in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sporting competitions. All of the Warrior athletic teams compete at the Division I level. Men's and women's ice hockey compete in the Hockey East conference, and men's lacrosse competes in the America East Conference, while the remaining teams are members of the Northeast Conference. Starting July 1, 2024, Merrimack will leave the NEC, and its primary affiliation for sports will be in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
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